The Essential Teachings of the Buddha

by Sangharakshita

What is the meaning of life? How can we be truly happy? These questions are no less pressing for having been asked so many times. In Buddhism, the answer is to be found in the Dharma - a traditional term which means both 'the Truth' and 'the Path'.

Guided by a lifetime's experience of Buddhist practice, Sangharakshita tackles the question: 'What is the Dharma?' from many different angles. The result is a basic starter kit of teachings and practices, which emphasizes the fundamentally practical nature of Buddhism.

In turn refreshing, unsettling, and inspiring, this book lays before us the essential Dharma, timeless and universal: the Truth that addresses the deepest questions of our hearts and minds and the Path that shows us how we can renew our lives.

Table of Contents:

1. Editor’s Preface
2. Introduction: what is the Dharma?
3. Part 1: The Truth
   • The Essential Truth
   • The Dynamics of Being
   • The texture of Reality
   • Nirvana
   • The Mystery of the void
4. Part 2: The Path
   • The Gravitational Pull and the Point of No Return
   • The Spiral Path
   • The Journey to Enlightenment
   • The Pattern of Buddhist Life and work
   • The Threefold Path: Ethics
   • The Threefold Path: Meditation
   • The Threefold Path: wisdom
   • The Cosmic significance of the bodhisattva Ideal
5. Notes and References
6. Further Reading
7. Index .

About the Author:

Sangharakshita was born Dennis Lingwood in South London, in 1925. Largely self-educated, he developed an interest in the cultures and philosophies of the East early on, and realized that he was a Buddhist at the age of sixteen. The Second World War took him, as a conscript to India, where he stayed on to become the Buddhist monk Sangharakshita. After twenty years in India, he returned to England to establish the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) in 1967, and the Western Buddhist Order in 1968. A translator between East and West, between the traditional world and the modern, between principles and practices, Sangharakshita’s depth of experience and clear thinking have been appreciated throughout the world.